The blizzard-kissed land was lit with the deathly glow of the moon as V perched herself atop the corner of a defunct skyscraper. She felt like a certain nocturnal mammal superhero she had once glimpsed on a comic book cover she came across (she never did get the name since it had worn away, what with the catastrophe and all). V sighed, gazing at the beautiful landscape she had at my fingertips. She couldn't help but wonder, though, how much of that landscape had slipped through her fingers after what transpired at the bunker.
She jumped, entering a daring free-fall. As the wind whistled past her, V recalled the first ever time she had done so. She had performed the jump under the orders of J, who stated that practicing such a maneuver could prove useful for hunting Worker Drones. V never forgot her first time performing that amazing stunt, and she was reliving every second of it as she ran through all the motions again in the present day. Whooping loudly, she spread her wings and pulled up as she neared the ground before ascending and reaching a glorious peak; subsequently, she beheld the moon in all its glory before diving back down.
After these moments of carefree glee, she set herself to reaching her objective: the corpse spire. She went there because a while back, J lost one of her swords when she had a mishap involving a misfired laser cannon. The group dubbed the mishap the "Tragedy of the Sword" (at least, that's what J insisted everyone refer to it as). J managed to grow them back, but she still made it a point to bring it up periodically, though they rarely spoke of it in depth due to its shameful nature. N made the mistake of talking about it in depth once and consequently suffered a severe punishment by J. It became a sort of "Cable Incident" – or at least, that's what V told me the term was for unspeakable happenings. Disassembly Drone jargon is somewhat odd, to say the least.
V landed a stone's cast from the landing pod behind a pile of dead Worker Drones. Helping herself to one of the dead Worker's arms, she surveyed her surroundings and heard J's noisy bickering from inside the pod; from what she could tell, she was having a go at N. From the few words V could discern, it sounded like she was trying to hype N up for the fight – that is by hyping up, she was calling him horrible things that I don't think I want to include in this record. V and I like to imagine that in her mind's eye, she pictured herself as some heroic Hollywood American football coach, but based on what V told me about the incident, her tone and choice of words leaned more towards the plane of toxic, verbal abuse than inspirational soapbox material.
Seeing as how the pair of them were occupied one with another, V figured that now would be the perfect time to begin creeping to the far end of the ship where J's blade was. With the arm still in her mouth, V stealthily began trekking through the ghastly graveyard. As she trod through the carnage, she came across some corpses whose faces she remembered all too well. Only a day ago, she'd chuckle as she reminisced over their screams, but... after all that had happened, V couldn't help but feel awful over all the murder she had committed.
V recalled one such pair of Drones she once killed. She had set herself on a young Worker Drone couple who had thick Ukrainian accents. They had a kid, a happy marriage, a place in the community, everything. The pair of them begged for mercy, and what did she do?
V's pulse quickened and her thoughts became dark as she thought about her actions that day. There was no joy in cold-blooded murder and unhinged killing sprees now that she had considered she was serving the wrong side. The undeniable rush from snuffing out other souls would remain forever buried in her mind, but after everything that had happened, she wondered just how hollow it would be to murder again and whether there'd be a rush, to begin with.
Maybe the rush would still be there for V. Maybe she'd feel it no matter what change ran its course in her body or soul. V tried to reason with herself at that moment that it was okay to have that rush, that it was all an unchangeable psychological sensation, that there was no helping it, and that death was sometimes a necessary means to achieve a desirable end. But all the same, the hollow feeling of guilt still began to fester uncontrollably as she stepped on an arm and broke it.
"Hey, did you hear that?"
V froze on the spot. She had been so wrapped up in her thoughts that she had become careless in her advance through the frigid wasteland. She glanced over at the drop pod and saw the shadows of J and N peeking out to see what the disturbance was. Seeing as how she had nowhere else to go without giving herself away, V decided to chuck the smashed arm away from her position.
N and J looked in the direction of the thrown arm. "Okay, there was definitely something there," said N.
J sighed. "Our constructive coaching session can wait," said J, her arm retracting into a submachine gun. "We need to have plenty of fuel in the tank if we're gonna take on the defect and her pet Worker Drone. Let's get moving, Synergistic Liability."
"Uh, J? Can you please not call me th–" N began to whine.
Without warning, J pointed her gun at N's right foot and shot him. V winced at this sight; even though N was an occasional airhead, she couldn't help but feel bad for him. As N hopped around with his wounded foot, "N, you're worthless and terrible, and if the company allowed it, I'd straight up kill you myself! Don't you forget that. Seeing as how you are the weakest among us – bar V, after recent events have revealed her to be even more defective than you – I shall call you whatsoever I please, and if I one day deign to call you something worse than the current moniker I am giving you, you will submit accordingly. Got it?"
"O-okay! Sorry! Thank you!" N said, still wincing from the pain.
V couldn't help but feel sorry for N. I wish to point out that her remorse didn't just exist in remembrance of N's poor foot but rather because he didn't understand he was fighting for the wrong side. Genesys' words rang in her head: "...if we can get you to join the good guys, who's to say we can't get, say, N on our side, or even J?" Despite her belief in Genesys' cause, she couldn't help but doubt whether or not N would join them, let alone J. As N and J flew off (with N flying away a little haphazardly), V decided to shelve these doubts for the moment so she could get the blade.
Meanwhile at the Bunker...
I fell back into my chair, sighing as Lizzy leaned on the table for support. Lizzy and I had toiled and troubled for an hour over the guard for my weapon. Our efforts resulted in the successful procuring and attaching of a functional guard to my hilt. "Whew," Lizzy huffed. "Do you... think that's... a good enough... guard?"
"If by that, you're asking if it'll keep me alive for a single encounter with a Disassembly Drone, then I think so," I answered as frankly as I could. "Y'know, if I wasn't under the threat of dying in a glorious battle in a few hours, I'd decorate it. Make it look nice, you know?"
"Why?" Lizzy simply inquired.
"Because if I'm gonna kill or be killed, I want the tool I'm using to be nice," I answered.
"No, I mean why is that stopping you from making your sword?" Lizzy specified.
"Well, I need my rest," I responded. "I want to save my energy up as much as I can so I can be in tip top shape when the time comes."
"I see," Lizzy said, her breathing leveling out.
Suddenly, the pair of us heard a pair of indistinct voices from outside the warehouse. Glancing at each other, we silently agreed to quiet down to understand them. One voice belonged to Uzi, and the other pertained to a young woman with... an unmistakably thick Ukrainian accent.
"Oh, budʹ laska [please], Uzi, can't I speak to him? I'll be tviy naykrashchyy druh [your best friend]! Tak [Yeah]?" said the Ukrainian voice.
"Doll, please, he's probably so busy..." Uzi's tired voice tried to reason with the girl named Doll.
"Oh, nonsense! I'm sure he would love to see me!" Doll's voice overpowered Uzi's. The pair of us heard fast-paced footfalls that became louder with every moment. The next thing we knew, the doors flew open so fast that I thought they'd get knocked off their hinges. "Oh, Gen-neh-siiiis!"
Startled by this sudden outburst, I subconsciously shifted defensively in my seat. "Oh, hi, Doll," I said, wondering just what I'd have to face today. In the human world, one could best describe Doll as a yandere in some sense of the word. I could more or less call her my friend, but I did not yet have the privilege to know the deepest workings of her life and mind. She was a somewhat energetic, boy-crazy Drone who had no qualms against interjecting a piece of her native tongue or two into a given sentence. Like me, she was an orphan, her parents having been slaughtered by a Disassembly Drone when she was young. However, unlike, say, Uzi, I didn't prefer to spend too much time with her since she was so intense. While I did think that she was kind of cute, her overbearing obsessiveness put me off to the point that it almost scared me. Almost.
"Hey, Doll, what's up?" said Lizzy. "How's your day been?"
"Oh, it's been oh-so-dyvovyzhnyy [amazing]!" Doll said, taking Lizzy's hands and jumping in place. For reasons beyond me – for the time being, anyway – Doll and Lizzy were the best of friends and rarely quarreled with each other (at least in earnest). I suppose Lizzy just had the constant emotional and social capacity to mirror that of Doll's. "Class was boring, as usual. I have no idea how that teacher doesn't fall asleep, listening to himself drone on and on!" She giggled at her wit, then swiveled toward me with her vibrant yellow eyes. "I do admire you, you know. Being able to manage his class, not falling asleep and all..."
"Uh, um..." I uttered, beginning to stammer and get flustered.
"And not even that. You make such good grades..." she breathed, reaching out toward me.
"Oookay!" said Uzi, who had approached Doll from behind, grabbing the back of her shirt and holding her in place. "That's far enough, Doctor Zaius."
"N-nu, blin [well, darn]," Doll stammered, stifling what appeared to be a pained sob. "Y-you're no fun. I-I j-just wanted to h-high-five him for his a-muh-muh-mazing work!"
I sighed as I slapped her hand. The moment it came in contact with hers, her hand wrapped around mine like a cobra. "I still love you, little mylashka [cutie]," she breathed, the two dots on her visor drooping as she enraptured herself in my face.
I swallowed, half-creeped out, half-embarrassed. Is this what it's like to be from V's point of view? I wondered as she let my hand go.
With a disapproving look, Uzi let Doll go, who said with a tired voice, "Well, I'd better get going." Waving goodbye, she departed while making unflinching eye contact with me. "Do pobachennya, moyi tovaryshi [Goodbye, my comrades]." She waved goodbye before skipping away like... a doll-eyed schoolgirl. How ironic.
We briefly stood without speaking as we let the situation sink in. You could hear a pin drop in the warehouse with how still we were. "Well," Uzi said, breaking the muteness, "I guess I should get going. I have other business to–"
Without warning, a voice pierced the solemn air: "I'M HOOOOOOOME!" The three of us jumped in place to see V holding a blade of steel – one that came from a Disassembly Drone, no less – high for all to see. She then set her eyes on both of us and much to my surprise, she seemed to stop her breathing for a split second before she said with a twinge of worry, "Heya, Genesys, who's the new lady?"
"Oh! This is Lizzy," I explained. "She's a friend."
"Yeah, we're not a thing," Lizzy chimed in. "I turned him down yesterday, but we're still friends."
That was an oddly specific thing to add, I thought to myself.
"Alrighty, then!" V said with her laid-back voice restored. "Just wonderin'." She threw a casual smile at the three of us. Despite her attempt to look like she didn't care at all, I couldn't help but feel like that was anything but the case. "Anyway, bud, I managed to get this bad boy for ya," she said, bringing the objects she had acquired for me.
"What is it?" I asked.
"It's one of J's swords!" V said excitedly.
"You – took on J just now?" I said, getting up abruptly as my oil pressure spiked. "I –"
"Nah," said V, waving me away. "It broke off a loooong time ago. There's a lotta drama to it."
"Oh," I said, calming down and seating myself.
"I can't help but imagine just how distraught J'll be that her sword's gone, what with the fact that she loved the thing and all," said V, frowning. She smiled, adding, "But I'm sure she'll get over it. This blade will hold up in some serious fights, and it'll really hurt someone pretty badly to say the least."
I chuckled. "Thanks a bunch, V," I said appreciatively.
"Well, I guess I'll be off... for real this time," Uzi said definitively. "I'll leave you to your designs, Genesys."
"I think I'll head out, too," Lizzy chimed in. "I need to, uh... um..." her mind spun as she tried to think of a way to explain her desires.
I had an idea of what she wanted to do. "I understand, Lizzy," I said. "You can leave if you want."
"O-oh," said Lizzy, relieved she didn't have to discuss her intentions.
As the pair of them walked away, I called out to Lizzy, "Hey, Lizzy? Good luck. You deserve him, okay?" I winked.
Lizzy's visor flushed. "Th-thanks, Genesys," said Lizzy, walking away with an amorous air. Uzi watched her walk ahead of her before chuckling to herself, continuing her exit and commenting on "young love."
"So, about this 'drama' you mentioned..." I said, turning to V once they had left.
"Oh, it's a long story," V said, shrugging.
"I have the time," I said, getting up as I began to put on my protective gear for my blade-making. "Besides, I'd enjoy hearing a story while I work."
She sighed. "Mkay," she said with a tone of resignation absent of contempt. "I'll tell ya what happened."
Sometime Later...
"Anyway, she started holding memorials for the thing, but she didn't keep it up since she considered our presence to, and I quote, 'taint its beloved memory.' Anyway, that's pretty much all there is to it," V finished.
"Well, I do hope that me putting this weapon to good use doesn't 'taint its beloved memory,'" I said, raising my finished product and testing its balance with some swings. Needless to say, I was pretty satisfied with my weapon: a broadsword with a circular guard and a grip that could be held with two hands. Because of my fighting style, though, I designed it to be lightweight enough to where I could effectively use just one hand while fighting – I liked to use one hand most of the time, occasionally using two hands for powerful strikes – though I made sure it wasn't so light that I was sacrificing too much attack power. "I'll tell ya what, the blade was pretty easy to work with. It's no wonder Disassembly Drones are so good at their job – they have such good tools," I commented.
"Oh, well, thanks," V said, humbly scratching her head. "It was nothing, really. Just another day in the life for me, you know?"
"No, really!" I insisted, continuing to practice against the air. "This blade will prove useful, I'm sure." I stopped practicing to turn my full attention to V as I said – albeit with some difficulty – "I couldn't have done it without you, V."
V's visor seemed to get a little bit hotter after hearing it. The two of us were so embarrassed by each other that we couldn't help but stare to the side. I scratched my visor as I decided to work up the courage to say three words: "V, I lo–"
"Mister Toner!" called a voice from afar, shattering the love-stricken air. The pair of us jumped in place to see Khan Doorman standing at the door. "How's the work coming along?" he said weightily. "I hope for all our sakes you haven't been shilly-shallying!"
"N-no, sir!" I said, unconsciously snapping into a salute as I exited my love-stricken trance. Looking back, I'm glad Khan interrupted my confession, seeing as how I could have made it sound so much better than just "V, I love you." "I've managed to finish my sword, so I think I'm pretty much ready to go for the fight tonight, sir!"
Despite my reassurances, Mr. Doorman's face didn't ease up just yet. "Er... V, was it?" he said with some caution.
"What's up, 'Genghis Khan'?" she said with a lax tone.
"What'd you call me?" said Khan, unsure of whether to take offense. I fell out of salute, likewise puzzled by this nickname.
"'Genghis Khan!'" V repeated. "Y'know, the famous human warlord of yonder time? Totally gangster dude. He didn't make the best choices, but he's legendary. In other words, I meant no offense, Mister Doorman," V concluded. "I just thought it'd be a cool nickname."
"I..." Khan's face seemed to soften as his mind began to wander. Perhaps that name had more effect on him than V anticipated. "I understand your good intentions," Khan said, trying to regain his stature, "but... please don't call me that," he said, slightly shaken.
"A-alright," V said, seeming to have also noticed the toll her nickname took on Khan.
"Well, I'll be off," said Khan, straightening himself up. "There's much business to be attended to. Both of you, make sure to get some rest, understand?"
"Crystal clear," said V, giving a thumbs-up.
"Yes, sir," I said, nodding. "Take care of yourself!" I called after him as he took his leave.
"What was that all about?" asked V once the door shut behind him.
"I dunno," I answered. "Khan never has liked to talk about his past with any one of us. Any time someone asks about what really happened the day we all went into hiding and the doors were enacted, he answers with information that everyone here already knows, changes the subject, or otherwise leaves the conversation altogether. I say leave the man to his secrets; seeing as how I like my own privacy, why should I intrude on his?"
V made an affirmative noise. "I see. Well... I guess I'd better get some rest," she said, stretching and yawning.
"But where are you gonna sleep?" I queried.
V's answer manifested as she spread her wings, burst toward the ceiling, and wrapped her tail around one of the metal supports like a bat. "Like this!" she called from up high.
"Do you... not use a bed?" I yelled back.
"Usually, no," she replied. "I vastly prefer this. It's comfortable to me, y'know?"
"A-alright," I said, a little weirded out. "Well, I'll be off to my dorm. See you later, yeah?"
"Not if I see you first, cutie," V answered in a sing-song tone before giggling.
This time, I didn't entertain her with anything more than an exasperated huff. As I left the room, walked the halls of the bunker, got back into my nighttime clothes, and hit the sack, though, I couldn't help but think maybe – just maybe – I could get used to this whole teasing business.